LOCATIONClose to the corner of Kay Street; easily accessed via the 96 tram.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAIt’s goodbye to industry stalwart Arrivederci and hello to Carlton’s Scopri; a restaurant well worth discovering. Taking over from where this local favourite left off, this smart Italian diner has been given a new lease on life by experienced owners Alison Foley and Anthony Scutella. Scopri, which comes from the Italian verb "to discover", owes its name to the time spent by the two travelling throughout Italy discovering the diversity of Italian regional cuisine. The black and white photo of a Piedmontese village surrounded by Barbaresco vines that dominates one wall gives a good idea as to the new direction of this restaurant, as does the prescence of Salvatore Caccioppoli (formerly of Svago) in the kitchen, who lends a light and inspired touch to its regional menu.
Try specialties such as traditional salt cod cooked three different ways, chestnut pappardelle with wild boar ragu or risotto with Treviso radicchio braised in red wine. Mains include local fish cooked in “crazy water” with a cauliflower, anchovy, olive and capsicum salad, slow-braised local rabbit with Sicilian green olives, onion and mint and the house-made skinless Berkshire pork sausage with broccoli rabe and diavoletto. For a sweet, simple finish sample the
zuppa inglese or Scopri’s “coffee cup” – a crunchy pastry shell filled with coffee zabaglione and served on a buffalo ricotta mousse. The restaurant also features a respectable wine list of Italian and local varieties and weekday express lunch options are also becoming a popular way to sample its fine regional cuisine. This is a smart and classy but welcoming local bistro which you would be happy not only to “discover” but also to revisit.
Angela Costanzo